The key to accessing jazz from rock is Blue Note, whose artists combined the best of blues, jazz and rock at a time when they were all a lot closer together. Most of it is nearly fifty years old and rocks harder and better than most of last week's Grammy nominees. Get "The Best of Blue Note" -- Trane's "Blue Train," Hancock's "Maiden Voyage," Lee Morgan's "Sidewinder," "Lou Donaldson's "Blues Walk" and Jimmy Smith's "Back at the Chicken Shack" are only half the classics on this album. From there, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with great Bobby Timmons tunes and Lee Morgan putting hot trumpet together with incredible control, the anti-Miles. Start with "Moanin'." Any Blue Note Jimmy Smith, especially with Kenny Burrell's guitar.

Any Miles from about 55-65, selectively before and after that. As Kamiya notes, both Hancock and Shorter were members of the second great Quintet from this period. Gil Evans, with or without Miles, but always with Burrell and Tony Williams or Philly Joe Jones on drums. And yes, Santana, at his best the greatest jazz-rock artist ever.

Most people who knew rock before the late 70s don't talk much about later periods because the best music was no longer the most popular, so lacks the universal references of the earlier periods. And, let's face it, it dumbed down. Punk split it one way, metal another, and the southern contingent, most influential of all, went to country. That left us with what, Madonna? There was a musical innovator. And even though Quincy Jones produced Michael Jackson's best, he never confused it with jazz. Same for Hancock, who turned to fusion (rock, really) after his first post-Miles band went bankrupt. He played it long enough to get rich, then returned to what he loved. He hasn't played "Rockit-"style for over twenty years.

Soloing isn't empty if it has meaning beyond just running changes. Jazz has suffered from empty technique more than once, but the best always join technique to emotion and insight, creating a transcendent understanding.

And definitely pick up "River --" it won simply because it is the best album of the year, joining one of American music's greatest songwriters with nearly a dozen of its greatest contemporary performers to make something that is arguably new, even if it never has much influence on pop music.

when most of these letters are so much more intelligent and better informed? To generate the letters, I guess.

Rather than "Dump your incandescents," the slant should have been "Government wants to force a dangerous, sickness-inducing technology down your throats," for your own good, of course.

Let's hear it for the experts. Please tell Cleveland to gear up for an underground economy built around healthy light. Is China capable of producing anything that doesn't contain lead or mercury?

Dodd's endorsement goes a long way toward answering questions about Obama's experience and insight, especially regarding foreign policy and his statement that he's "not invested" in the battles of the '60s and '70s. Without the "divisive" activism of the postwar years, he'd still be sitting at a lunch counter, not running for President.

Dodd is invested in those struggles. He's been there, as a leader, for over thirty years, without losing his energy or his commitment. He may not have won many votes in Iowa, but he made a lot of friends. His decision to filibuster the Senate in October was dismissed by many as a tactic to win publicity for his Presidential campaign; then he did it again after the campaign was over. His support for Obama is good enough for me.

Even better would be Obama's returning the favor with a VP nomination. No one could do more to restore integrity to that thoroughly disgraced office. Dodd for VP and President of the Senate, Harkin or Feingold for Senate Majority Leader!

In tribute to Glenn Greenwald, various things:

1. The Clinton quote which is now all over the place courtesy of Dana Milbank's column in the Washington Post, is "Nobody should ever underestimate the intelligence of the American voter." Though the women's movement has used variants on this for years, probably where Clinton's people got it, it started, meaning reversed, with H. L. Mencken.

The most quoted form is "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people." The original, however, was "No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” Something Clinton and Co. seem to have considered.

2. Texas has more military bases and, I believe, military retirees than any other state in the country, and most of them support McCain. (My father is one of them, and he's my source for this.) With that nomination a sure thing, many of them crossed party lines to vote for the candidate they'd most like to see running against him. That accounts for the large difference between primary and caucus totals. Also answers the question: who would this group of Texans like to see answering the red phone? Somebody who goes to bed wearing his medals.

3. Who the hell is Austin Goolsbee, and what the hell was he doing in Canada? This has all the signs of a classic dirty trick. Obama's failure to answer it puts him in Kerry/Dukakis territory, not where a viable candidate resides. How this plays out may do a lot to determine the nomination, considering who's left to vote. Which leads us to

4. Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia, is more conservative than Ohio and in just as bad shape. Obama needs to take John Edwards shots, not be channelling the ghost (at least I hope it's a ghost by now) of Goolsbee.

5. Iowa has a new slogan: Smarter Than the Average State. Yogi would be proud. But he's about the only one.